Captured Time
by crazymadscience
Summary: Twenty years after Degrassi, a time capsule is remembered. What is inside, and what does it mean? R
1. It Is Too Early

**A/N I have been nursing the idea of this fan fiction for a long time, but I hadn't started it because I was currently working on a large original fiction. Well, now I am almost done with that, and I figured that if I didn't start this soon I would never do it. So I am starting. Be warned, this is my first fan fiction that isn't a one-shot, so all constructive criticism is not only appreciated, but needed. Please R&R.**

Manuela Santos-Heron opened her eyes slowly and peeked over her flowery bed spread to view her alarm clock.

_7:15, I'm running late._

She grudgingly rolled out of bed, and stretched. Oh, how her thirty five year old back hurt. She could remember when gymnastics in the morning was no problem; age was a terrifying thing.

She started her shower and stepped in quickly, wanting to escape the cool bathroom air, but finding out, to her dismay, that the hot water heater's pilot light must be out again, because she had no hot water. Her shriek was followed by a groan as she stubbed her toe falling out of the stall, and a thud as her husband banged on the door.

"Honey? You alright? Listen; I've got a meeting with Wittleson tonight. I'll be late. Joey has soccer practice, and I told him I'd take him, but I can't miss this meeting. Can you fill in for me? It's at four, thanks." She opened her mouth, and closed it again. He didn't even wait for an answer. She heard his footsteps recede down the stairs, and she wrapped a towel about her person.

She started down the stairs with a grim expression on her face. The water heater was in the laundry room, which was on the bottom floor. It was also next to the kitchen which would be full of noisy children getting ready to go to school. She quickly squeezed into the small room and looked around for the lighter with a long stick that they always kept in here.

_There it is._ She spotted it on a high shelf, and as she reached she heard a bang from the kitchen.

"Cut it out, you guys! I have to get going so if you want a ride get out here now!" Her husband Sam shouted to his children.

"Yeh, we're coming! Hurry up, Lissa!" She heard a thump and knew that Joey must have thwacked Lissa on the head.

"Shut up, Joey! I'm coming!" Manny heard the door close and she exhaled. A peek around the door connecting the laundry room to the kitchen showed something completely undesirable: toppled chairs and spilled cereal.

_Oh yes, just what I have always dreamed of: a dirty kitchen before eight A.M._

She swiftly exhaled and lit the pilot light without issue, and slowly trasped up the stairs. She walked into her room, and looked around. There wouldn't be hot water for about a half hour, so she needed to find something to do until then…

She spotted her computer and decided to check her email.

_PEA meeting on the 5th... Lissa's recital on the 8th... SPAM...what's this?_

She stared at the unknown email address, and almost deleted it. It looked like spam, but something stopped her before she hit the delete button.

She opened the email and quickly read the contents:

**TIME CAPSULE RECOVERY**

**You registered at on May 18th, 2005. You selected that an email be sent to you twenty years after that date. Today is May 18th, 2025. It has been the selected amount of time, and now you may recover your time capsule.**

**Total Fee: (pre-paid)**

_Time capsule? What time capsule?_

Manny sat heavily on the bed and stared at the computer screen. She pulled the towel tighter around herself and sighed.

She remembered what time capsule.


	2. Pen Tapping Does Not Help

**A/N Short chapter, again, sorry! I just want to get another part of it up, but it's late. So I will continue later, and remember: I love reviews! (heheh)**

Manny tapped her pencil against her notepad. She had washed three loads of laundry, done the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, made all the beds, and mopped the kitchen floor. It was 2:30 and she had a little time before she needed to go pick Joey up and drive him across town to soccer practice.

"How did I forget? How?" she muttered aloud. How had something that had meant so much, fallen so quickly to the wayside? Well, to be honest she could think…

_Fashion design and then the first failed marriage and then Sam and our wedding and then Sam's children…_

High school seemed like a faraway memory. She tapped her pen faster and tried to produce the names. She needed the names…

_Emma Nelson _she scrawled across the top of the page. Of course, Emma. Even after everything they went through, they had still been Emma and Manny, and Emma had even helped her think up the whole idea. Of course.

_If Emma was involved, then so was Toby. _She wrote his name under Emma's.

_And there was JT too, then. They did everything together, as well. Oh, and Liberty. She and JT were 'going out' then._ She laughed a soft laugh for their high school terminology, and tapped the page again.

_That's only five of us. I remember that there were 8. _She laughed and scrunched up her eyes, how did she remember that there were 8, if she hadn't even remembered about the thing in the first place? She pushed that thought aside and stared at the page again.

_Who else?_ She forced herself to think back…

"_So what do you think?" Manny turned to Emma and the two of them turned into the girls' washroom._

"_I think that it's a good idea, but who are you going to ask? Like, do you want this to be a school wide thing…" _

_Paige Michalchuk emerged from a stall and looked Manny up and down. "School wide thing, eh? Hun, are you sure that you are up for that sort of thing?" She smiled snidely and turned to the facet._

_Manny inhaled deeply, and took a step forward. "Paige…"_

"_Oh, save it Manny. I know, we buried the hatchet, but we don't have to be buds. I don't want in on your little plan, k?"_

_Manny's eyes shifted downwards and she shuffled her foot. "Sure, Paige. We don't have to be friends, I know. I don't really want to, but still.."_

_Paige turned to face her. "Still?" Her voice was demanding._

"_I think it would be nice if you wanted to be a part of it." Manny finished lamely. _

_Paige smiled her 'Paige' smile, "Sure, hun."_

_She pushed her way by Emma and walked out of the door._

"_What was that?" Emma said wonderingly to Manny. _

"_I dunno, but maybe this thing might work, you know?"_

She added Paige to the page.


	3. Phone Calls Lead to Epiphanies

**A/N This one is sort of short, as well. Sorry. I don't know, perhaps they will all be this way, at least for now. Anyway, the reason why Manny is making the list of people is that she received the notification of the time capsule, and she is the one that came up with the idea. I'm not saying anything else, though. I don't want to ruin any of the story! Reviews are awesome, thank you readers!**

"_So who all do you have now, Manny?" Emma asked quickly. They had met at their lockers after school, and they were headed home. Manny shut her locker swiftly and picked her pink book bag up from the ground._

"_Well, there's you, of course." Emma took a short, comical bow, and smiled at Manny. "And then there's JT, and Liberty." She looked Emma in the eye, "I asked them in M.I. Liberty said she thought it was the best idea ever." Manny grinned. "After her Dracula play, of course." Emma and Manny giggled softly. "Toby, too. He heard me ask them." Emma looked at her disapprovingly. "Hey! I was going to ask him anyway!" She said defensively. "I just wish it hadn't seemed like the only reason I did was because he overheard me talking to JT and Liberty." Emma nodded._

"_That makes sense. And of course, there's Paige." She muttered. Speak of the devil, Paige walked around the corner. Emma rolled her eyes at Manny.  
"Wow, Em." Manny put on a false look of surprise. "You summoned her!" she said sarcastically. They both laughed and started down the school steps._

"_I wish I could summon some Ben 'n' Jerry's." She muttered wryly. "Which reminds me. We've got some at my house. Want to plan there?" Manny pretended to think about it._

"_Well…" She giggled. "Yum! Let's go."_

Manny shook her head quickly, and focused on the soccer practice before her. She needed to think of the other people. They were two other people. She remembered the number 8.

"Hustle, you bums! Come on now! Let's GO!" The coach shouted from the sideline, and Manny just about jumped out of her skin. She breathed in deeply and pulled the pad of paper out from her bag.

"Ok, ok. Me, Emma, JT, Toby, Liberty, Paige, and…. Who?" She tapped her pen against each name as she muttered it aloud. A sigh escaped her. Maybe she should just call Emma. Emma would remember, wouldn't she?

That wasn't exactly something she was looking forward to. She hadn't spoken with Emma in about… how long had it been? Was it really ten years?  
They had ended up at the same college, but they hadn't stayed as close as they had been throughout high school.

Emma became immersed in the movements that sweep campuses, and Manny joined a sorority. It all went downhill from there, culminating in a blow out that involved Emma telling Manny that she was wasting her life on fashion.

Manny had just tried to prove her wrong, and they hadn't stopped being friends. They both thought that meant they were truly friends forever.

That all changed when it turned out Emma was right. Manny just couldn't bear to tell her she was working at the local Dairy Freeze; waiting to decide what to do with her life.

Emma was out changing the world, and Manny was scooping cones. The friendship just fell apart.

"I need the other two names, though." She muttered aloud. She sighed, and rustled in her bag again. She pulled out her cell phone. She wasn't sure she wanted to make the call here; it was kind of noisy. She thought about waiting to do it later, at home.

_Oh, and it's just quiet as a church there._ She thought wryly.

"I can do this. I'm an adult." She tried to tell herself as she punched in the number to Emma's mother's house.

_Ring, Ring, Ring_

"Hello?" Manny heard Spike's voice. She sounded tired. Manny opened her mouth, once, twice, but nothing came out. "Hello?" Spike said again, sounding impatient.

"Hello." Manny managed to squeak out. "This is Manny Santos." She paused.

_I forgot the Heron._ She thought sickly to herself.

"Manny? Manny Santos?" Spike said wonderingly. "I haven't heard from you in, well, in a long time! How _are_ you?" Spike asked earnestly.

Manny laughed nervously. "Ah, well. I'm great. Just great." She said quickly. Remembering something, she added hastily, "I'm married."

Spike laughed good-naturedly. "Good, good. Well good for you."

"And how are you?" Manny asked quickly.

"Oh, I'm fine." She said in a normal voice, something Manny wished desperately she could employ. "So..." Spike said lightly.

"Hmm?" Manny said, oblivious.

"Why are you calling, dear?" Spike said, trying not to sound rude, and only barely managing it.

"Oh! Of course." Manny laughed embarrassingly. "Umm, yes. Well, I was wondering if you could give me Emma's phone number? Please?" She grimaced. What type of idiot was she making herself out to be?

"Sure, hun. No problem. Have you got a pen and paper?" Manny nodded, then realized Spike couldn't see her, and said yes aloud. "Alright then." Spike gave Manny the number and Manny jotted it down. Spike rattled on a bit about Emma, and Manny didn't hear much of it.

"…She's living in Ellison now."

_Ellison…Ellison…Elli-son…Ellie…Ellie!_

"Manny? Manny, are you there, dear?" Manny shook herself into focus.

"Oh, nice talking to you too, Spike. Thank you so much! Goodbye." Manny hung up the phone quickly.

Halfway across the country Spike hung her phone up as well and shook her head; amused. "Some things never change, I suppose." She laughed softly and heard someone call. "Yes, Archie! I'm coming!"

_Ellie. I forgot Ellie._ Manny thought happily and scribbled the name down on the list. She only needed one more name. Her eyes fell on the number hastily written across the bottom of the page, and she blinked.

She wasn't ready quite yet. She shoved everything into her bag, and stood up on the bleachers.

"Yeah, Joey! Woo-hoo!" She yelled enthusiastically. It didn't even matter that he was sitting on the bench.


	4. In the Dusty Attic Keep

**A/N: Ok, I really hope that this chapter clears up any confusion about the list, or whatever. Also, it's not a short one either! Yes! Um, please continue to read and review, and do tell me if you are still confused. Please.**

**Disclaimer: (I keep forgetting to put this in.) I do not own the characters mentioned henceforth, except Sam. **

The dust floated upwards in great plumes, and Manny coughed hoarsely. She could barely see through the gloom of the late night attic air. She shook her flashlight, as if that would make it shine brighter, and pulled up the next box.

She had been searching through the boxes in the farthest corner of the attic for over an hour, and still she hadn't found what she was looking for. This is why moving into a pre-made family wasn't the greatest. She had had to take up only the leftover space, and to tell you the truth, there wasn't much of it.

So all of her precious memories lay stacked in moldy boxes in the very back of the attic; past the boxes of winter clothes for the kids, past Sam's old bowling trophies, past the four or five boxes that contained keepsakes his ex-wife had left for the kids, past all that, lay Manny's treasure.

She had started off happily laughing at the memories stored in these boxes: old pictures she drew, old pictures she was in, kindergarten finger paintings, the whole works. Her mother had been big on saving everything. But, she had been here for a long time and it was now 2:30 in the morning.

She sighed and ran a hand through her beautiful black hair. She could have asked Sam to help her. He would have been all too willing to sit with her in the dark must of the attic's lonely keep, and sort through her former life with her. If only she had asked him, she would be doing this at a reasonable hour, and she wouldn't be so frustrated.

She hadn't, though. She had been selfish, and she wasn't ready to share this big thing with him yet. She wasn't sure she even wanted to at all. She tried to tell herself it was normal, that he wouldn't care about a high school time capsule anyway, but that didn't really work. There was something about this secret; something that said it would be told, but it must be told right.

So she had rolled softly out of bed, and snuck down the hall, into the kitchen. She had lain awake all night thinking about it, and she had decided to wait until everyone was gone the next morning, but something made her hop out of bed, pull her robe on, and quietly tip toe down the hallway. She slowly pulled the fold down steps out of the ceiling, and lightly scampered up the stairs.

She felt like Cat Woman, sneaking around her own house. She sort of liked the suspense. She had attempted to be quiet in the attic as well, but that really hadn't worked out. There were too many boxes in the way, and she found herself tripping. A lot.

But, she finally made it to the back of the attic, and she sat down in a puff of dust in front of the boxes labeled: SANTOS, MANNY. Wasn't she clever as a child? Then, she had thought it was funny to label her boxes like that. Now? Now, it seemed all too fitting.

Santos, Manny. The woman of the house. The wife. The step mom. The ultimate accessory. She felt like these boxes; added to this attic to make it complete. Just like she was added to this family to make _it _more complete.

She shook those thoughts out of her head and went back to work. She just wanted to find the box with her old high school year books in it. She wanted to look through them; see if she could figure out who the last person was.

If only she could find the damn box! She had searched at least twelve, and still no luck. The only thing that kept her here searching now was the simple desire to be right. She wanted to be right.

Emma.

She wanted to be right. She thought about the idea for this time capsule, and she smiled.

It had been _her_ idea. The whole thing was Manny's idea. Oh, how she was proud of it. She had thought about it carefully for three weeks before even broaching the idea to Emma, her best friend. The one who always did everything right. The one who always organized something and always did it perfectly.

And Manny wasn't even spiteful with her idea. Well, not really. She loved Emma, she really did. She just wanted to show everyone that she, too, could organize and pull off something spectacular. So she thought and she thought about a Degrassi time capsule. She considered it piece by piece.

She looked things up on the internet; she even read a few books about time capsules. She looked into prices, and she looked into places to bury it. She looked at the actual capsules. She decided that she didn't want to tell the school about her idea. Because, then, wouldn't the actual carrying out of the idea be taken from her? She didn't want to lose any of the credit.

She kind of felt bad for being so selfish, but she couldn't seem to help it. This was her golden idea, after all, and she wasn't going to waste it. And if she wasn't going to give the idea to the school, well then, it was her show, and her rules.

She really like the idea of it being exclusive. She wanted it to be special. (Ok, really she wanted to keep the cost of the whole thing down, and the fewer people involved the smaller the actual capsule could be, thus, saving much needed money.) But, she told everyone involved that it was exclusive.

And she wanted the number of people to be under ten. Then she could buy the small capsule from the wonderful website she had found.

So, she picked her lucky number, 8.

So, now she had all the specifics worked out, and she thought it was time to tell Emma, who was totally supportive, and on board with the whole idea. She sort of even liked the exclusive part, even though she didn't openly admit it. But, from the start, Emma had tried to be a little _too_ involved for Manny's liking.

It wasn't that she didn't want Emma's help, it was that she didn't want anyone to think this was _Emma's_ project. So Manny had pushed Emma out of the main picture, and Emma had accepted that. She really had. She had let Manny take the complete lead, and hadn't even resented it.

But, now, twenty years later, Manny didn't want to be wrong. Especially after the last time she was wrong in front of Emma. This idea was her baby. She couldn't fail in the least.

So that was the other reason she was here in the middle of the night. She would need to call and remind everyone about the time capsule. That was her job, as the leader. But first? First, she needed the last name.

And she really didn't want to have to ask Emma for it.

"Yes!" she shrieked rather loudly. She coughed, and held her breath for a moment. No one seemed to have heard her. She clutched the book to her chest and twisted back and forth with relief. She had found it!

She leaned back against another box, and propped the flash light against her hip. She peeled the book open slowly, and turned the pages eagerly. She flipped to her grade, and glanced over the faces of her former class mates.

She didn't see anyone that rang a bell. Of course, anyone who she didn't already know was involved. She tried not to get nervous, and flipped the pages to the grade ahead of her.

Her eyes scanned the rows quickly, and they tripped over a few faces.

_Paige... yeah, she was a part of it…Spinner…no…Hazel…no…Jimmy…no…Ashley…ha, no…Ellie…yeah, actually._

She smiled faintly as she thought back to how that had happened.

_Manny walked quickly down the stairs, she was late for English, and she wasn't watching where she was going. _

"_Ouch! Hey! Watch where you're going, would you?" Ellie snapped at her. She looked flustered, and her eyes were rimmed in red. Manny did a double take; she looked like she had been crying. Ellie, crying? Psh._

"_Sorry." Manny muttered and stared at her shoes. "Shouldn't you be in class?" She asked, trying to act like she hadn't seen Ellie's face._

"_Yeah, and so should you. I don't feel like going, though." Manny looked at her skeptically. "I'm cutting, Manny." Manny's gaze was immediately drawn to Ellie's arms, and she, again, turned red in the face. "Cute, Manny. Not that kid of cutting. I don't do that anymore."_

"_Yeah." Manny felt awkward. So, of course, a part of her brain that she would love to have lobotomized kicked in, and her mouth opened. "Can I come to?" _Oh, yes. Perfect Manny, make it more awkward. Great job,_ she thought to herself._

_Ellie stared at her like she was an alien. Why was Manny Santos asking to hang out with her? Was she on drugs? No, she didn't seem like that type. She was the type to steal a person's boyfriend…_

_Manny seemed to know exactly what was going through Ellie's mind, because she turned red again, and looked at her shoes. "Never mind. See you later Ellie." _

_Ellie watched her start to walk away, and she didn't know why, but she called out. _

"_No, wait. Whatever, Manny. You can come."_

So, Manny had gone. She and Ellie had snuck out of the back door, and talked behind the cafeteria through 5th period. Something had happened between them, because Ellie told Manny she was crying over Sean, (She made Manny swear on her life that she wouldn't ever say anything about Ellie crying over a guy,) and Manny told her about her time capsule idea. Ellie had looked moderately interested, so Manny invited her to join in. Ellie had actually said yes.

She shook her head yet again, and ran her finger down the row.

_No…no…no…no…no…oh my God._

She knew who number eight was.

It was him.


	5. Backaches From Boxes or Broken Hearts?

**A/N: I am a silly person. The original chapter five stunk, simply because I am a doofus. Strictly speaking, I shouldn't have written it when I did. I just wasn't in the mood, and sort of, kind of, forced myself to do it. I know what you are thinking, _How can you not be in the mood to write?_ I dunno, maybe it was PMS, whatever. So this time, I _was_ in the mood, and it's different, and _I _think its better. I know I don't deserve it, (cite previous admission of idiocy), but please review this. I need to know if it improved or not. I apologize for rushing, and promise to never do it again. Forgive me?**

_She walked slowly along the sidewalk. Her feet dragged along and she slowly turned towards the house. His house. She sighed and continued walking towards it. She was unhappy with herself. She kept telling herself that she wanted this idea to go off without a hitch, but something pulled her towards him. She wanted him to be a part of it all, but wasn't it always a mess with him?_

_Again she sighed, but this time she had reached a decision. They were over (had they ever really started?), and she had let go. The fact remained that he was an important part of her life, and this was important too._

_She walked slowly up the stairs to his house, and knocked sharply. She scuffed her foot along the porch, and stared at her shoes. She shouldn't be this nervous. She had every right to casually ask him to be a part of this. There was nothing wrong with that. Was there?_

_She jumped slightly as the door opened. It was him. Her breath came shorter, and she glanced sharply away form him._

"_Manny?" He asked. There was a slight edge to his voice, and she tried not to take offense. "Wha-" He started to say, but halted. He shook his head slightly and opened the door completely. "Come in." He exhaled as she walked past him, and she tried not to notice how good he smelled. "What's up?" He said with an anxious glance at her, well, stomach. His mouth seemed to involuntarily twitch, and she almost found it funny._

"_You know, not everything I want to talk to you about is a horrible life-changing event, Craig." She said with a poor attempt at humor. He quickly averted his eyes, and spun around towards the kitchen._

"_Yeh, yeh." He muttered vaguely, trying to cover his embarrassment. "Um, I'm gonna get something to drink," He called over his shoulder while walking fast into the kitchen. "Coke, right?" He asked her nervously._

"_Yeh, coke's great." She answered and clenched her jaw to keep from laughing. They hadn't touched each other in over a year, and he was still acting like she was going to drop another baby bombshell on him. If she would have known this would be this entertaining, she would have visited him a long time ago._

_He re-entered the room carrying two glasses of iced coke, and he set them on the coffee table. He plopped down on the couch, and she momentarily thought about sitting really close to him, just to freak him out, but decided that this idea was worth more than a cheap laugh at his expense._

_She sat down across from him in an over stuffed chair, and looked at him seriously. "I'm not here to tell you bad news. I'm not here to seduce you. I'm not here to change your life, and I'm not here to break you and your girlfriend up." She rattled off quickly. He looked away, embarrassed again, and Manny wondered what was wrong with her. Craig was a really confident guy, he wasn't this easy to throw off balance. Or maybe there was something up with him? She didn't want to worry about it now._

_She took a sip of her coke and set it down on a coaster. "Um, well. I am here for a reason. Um, I mean, I'm not just here to chat, or something." Wow, now she was the one that was embarrassed. She took a deep breath. "What I mean is, I came because I wanted to ask you something, and because I wanted us to, maybe, be friends?"_

_He glanced at her curiously, as though to say _Nice idea, but it'll never work, _and he blinked._

_She turned a bit redder, and sighed. "Well, I don't mean we should start sharing all our innermost secrets or anything. I... I just meant that maybe we could stop being so, I don't know, detached and cold. Because, it's not that I want to get back together or bring up any bad memories, but, you know, we have a past, Craig. I just…I just can't pretend like we don't anymore." There she said it. She took a few deep breathes and wouldn't look at him for a few moments. When she finally managed to look up, she saw that he was staring at her intently._

"_Yeah, Manny. I think that's a good idea." He said with what she really thought was sincerity. _Ok, don't tell him yet_, she thought to herself, _You can't rush Craig. Remember the thing with his locker…

_But her mouth betrayed her. She couldn't help it. Craig might need to take it slow, but she was the kind that went fast. She jumped in head first, and prayed she could swim through it. And, besides, she wasn't trying to preserve a relationship, or really even a friendship, just a lack of forced disinterest. So he would just have to get over the way she was and accept her. She was through changing for guys._

"_So…" She started hesitantly._

"_What?" He asked with a touch of exasperation. _

_She glared at him, and sucked in a breath "Well…" And she proceeded to tell him all about her idea._

Manny's back _hurt._ She felt like she had spent the night hunched over a…box.

"Ahhh." She exhaled, and stood up slowly. "Ow." She looked around and her heart started to race. Why was she staring at bare slats? Where was her bed spread? Why did her back hurt so badly? She must have fallen asleep over that box of old school stuff. "Shit!"

She quickly scrambled across the boxes strewn about the floor, and rushed to the door. It was just as she had left it, before she came up the night before. She sighed and sat down with her legs draped over the sides of the hole. She looked through the small box into the kitchen where she could make out the table, and she saw dishes piled on it. The dark wasn't so bad as to prevent her from seeing the sink, and the mess that littered the floor.

_So what happened here? He woke up, found I wasn't in bed, and then just went about his usual morning?_ She thought incredulously to herself. _He must have checked and saw that I was up here, and that nothing was wrong…_she shook her head and focused on the dishes, _he had to have been worried. He must have checked the attic and saw me. He had to have, because he left the breakfast mess for me to clean up. _This sounded odd, even to herself. If he had found her in the attic, would he not have woken her up? Her excuses were feeble, but she chose to ignore the part of her brain that was telling her that she needed to wake up, and not from sleep.

He heart was racing, but she made herself forget about Sam for the moment. She wanted to continue to focus on her project. She had to. It was all that was keeping her sane.

She stood up and cautiously made her way back to the box of her old school things. She picked up the year book and lovingly tucked it under one arm. She grabbed her flashlight, turned it off, and walked back to the opening.

Each step down the stairs was tremendous. She felt the questions that always plagued her resurface. _Does he really love me? Is this all a joke? Why am I here? Step..stepmother, stepchildren, why? Why? How?_

She firmly pressed her feet against the steps, and planted her weight. She imagined she was squashing the thoughts that circled her heart. She pushed them so they could not harm her.

The wood of the kitchen floor was warm and she pushed the door back into the ceiling with ease. Her back still hurt, and she stiffly walked into the bathroom to grab some pain meds.

The phone rang as she exited, and she hurried over to the wall unit.

_Ring…ring…ring…ri.._

The receiver was cold in her hand, and she placed it to her ear reluctantly. "Hello, Heron residence." _Ugh, I sound like a receptionist._ She thought to herself. She tried to ignore the fact that she felt like one most of the time.

"Manuela? Is that you?" _No it's a strange burglar that answers the phone when he robs people, _Manny thought sarcastically.

"Yes, Sam. What is it?" Her tone came off snippy but she didn't care.

"I need a favor. The Baxon's file is on my desk. The left corner. I need it for a meeting tonight, and I was wondering if you could run it by." He voice was impatient and he mumbled something to someone on his end.

"Ye- Wait. We were supposed to have dinner together tonight. You know, just the two of us? No kids. No distractions. Just us." She meant to sound angry but only vulnerability came across.

"Manuela, you know how my job is. Things come up. I-" He cut himself off and mumbled again to someone on the other line. "Tonight's no good. Why don't we do it on Thursday? That's the only other time I'm free this week."

Her heart started to race, and anger filled her blood. This was the same excuse he used every time, but this time it was different. Tonight wasn't special. Thursday was.

"Sam. You know that I'm busy Thursday." She didn't say why. _Please know why._ She silently pleaded.

"What? Hun, PTA isn't on Thursdays. It's Tuesday nights." His voice held distraction, and her eyes bulged.

"PTA? PTA!" She screeched at him. "Sam, for one thing, you play golf on Tuesday's, PTA _is_ on Thursdays, but the Principal is out of town this week, so the meeting was rescheduled for Saturday, and second of all, Thursday is special." Her voice held a question. _Do you know why?_

"Special? I don't have anything going on Thursday, I just told you that. Are you doing anything?" The last question was incredulous. Like the very idea of her doing anything outside of her resident job of the maid was extraordinary. Manny took three deep breathes.

"Sam. I have a fundraiser Thursday. For the group I belong to. _Mothers Without Children._" She hissed the last three words, but he didn't even notice. He just told some girl named Sharon to fax that report to some other girl named Lisa. Manny seethed.

He focused back on her, only to say. "Oh, hun. You know you don't actually have to go to those things. Just write them a check. Besides, we already went to that silent auction this month; our charity quotient is taken care off." He was joking, but Manny only became angrier.

"Sam," Her voice was pure venom. "That was a social get together of your old frat brothers, huddled behind a paper thin charity screen. How much money was actually raised, Sam? Five hundred dollars? Out of over five hundred attendees?" Her voice got quieter with every word. He seemed to actually be paying attention to her at this point.

"Alright, alright. If it means that much to you. Just go." Her heart was beating so fast she felt like she was going to pass out.

"Yes Sam. It means that much to me." She whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.

"Ok then. I'll see what I can do about us having dinner next week. That ok with you?" More silent tears followed.

"Yes, whatever." Again she whispered.

"So, can you bring that file by? I really need it." The tears stopped and her anger returned. Her heart was on fire.

"No. No, I can't. I'm busy." She hung up the phone without waiting for an answer.

The tears returned as she walked over to the table, phone in hand. She calmed them with time and looked out through the kitchen window. Her breathing deepened and she faced the phone again.

_Now, a pleasant conversation…_


	6. Hung Myself With a Phone Line

**A/N: Sorry it took me so ridiculously long to update. I feel bad, but I don't really think it could be helped. I think this chapter is crap, but it wasn't working at all for me, and I wasn't sure how to get past that. So I just wrote it, and if it sucks, hopefully I'll be able to push past that and get on with the story. Please R&R, thanks. **

The phone rang, and rang, and rang.

_What's going on?_ Manny thought to herself. This was the fourth phone call she had made that morning, and it was the fourth time she had received no response. _It's almost like they're all giving me the silent treatment._ She thought with a laugh that was supposed to contain humor.

After reaching Liberty's rather excited mother, she had called Liberty's house and found an answering machine that barked: "Leave your name and number if you're calling about something important. If not, don't ever call me again." Manny had been surprised for a moment, but after contemplation decided that it sounded like an extremely stressed, busy, and grown-up Liberty, and had left a short message hoping she hadn't provoked her.

After that attempt, she had tried to reach Toby, and found, to her dismay, that he was not living in Toronto anyone. In fact, he wasn't even living in Canada. According to his step-mother, who, luckily, was completely oblivious to the history Manny shared with her daughter, he was now living in Tokyo. She had rattled off some techno-babble that Manny knew she didn't understand herself, so it wasn't much of a surprise that Manny didn't understand any of it either. Apparently, Toby was working as the Tokyo assistant to the consultant for Microsoft. Yes, Microsoft. Manny didn't really find that surprising either. She tried his number but got his answering machine. She didn't really figure he would travel back to Canada for this thing, but she did figure he had a right to know.

She took a short break to make herself some lunch, a grilled chicken sandwich and a small salad, and to change the laundry.

Twenty minutes later she decided to call J.T. He too was nowhere to be found. She called his mother, who had chatted her ear off for a good half and hour and would not say goodbye, and received his phone number. She was stalling for time, because she really didn't want to get another answering machine, when she noticed something about the numbers. 1-589-548-6969. For some reason this made her laugh hysterically. She looked at them again, and wondered if he had paid extra for this ridiculous phone number, or if it had just been a coincidence. The sad thing was, she honestly couldn't tell. It was J.T. after all. But, he wasn't there either, and she almost didn't have the heart to leave a message.

She tried Paige next. She figured that she might be able to get a hold of her. Her mother was also oblivious to the high school tiffs that Manny had shared with Paige, and Manny was made to wonder if she was the only person she knew who kept that time in her life close to her heart. She had scribbled Paige's new phone number down, and found out that Paige had left the country too. She was living in New York. Manny called her, and reached: "The apartment of Bill," in a deep man's voice, "and Paige!" in a weird chirpy Paige voice. The whole thing sent Manny a creepy 'this is an odd relationship' vibe. She left a short message identifying herself and asking Paige to call her back.

By then she was getting extremely discouraged. She only had three other people to call and she didn't really know which one she wanted to attempt first. The thing was, she couldn't just call Ellie. She had no way to get a hold of her. She had no idea what her mother's phone number was. She didn't even know what her mother's first name was.

So she turned to the pad of paper in front of her, and pulled a phone book up. She had Emma's number, she needed Ellie's, and she was still afraid of Craig's.

She placed a shaking hand on the receiver and willed herself to stay calm. She brought it to her hear, and heard the dial tone. She let it beep four times in her ear, and breathed in time with it. Her heart stopped racing.

She dialed the number and waited, willed someone to pick up. They did.

"Hello?" the voice was polite and warm.

"Hello. Is…uh…Emma Nelson there?" She asked in a rush.

"This is she." The voice replied, slightly puzzled.

"Hi." Manny said, unsure of how to continue. _Perhaps you should tell her who you are…_ "This is Manny Santos." She said hopefully.

"Manny? Manny Santos? How are you?" Emma asked her earnestly. Manny could practically see the smile on her face. She smiled in return.

"Just fine. I'm married." She paused for a second to allow Emma to make the appropriate noise. "And yourself?"

"Great. I've been working on establishing an activism organization for the schools of the Toronto area. Well, tell you the truth, I've been focusing more on…"

"Degrassi." They said together and laughed.

"That's fantastic, Emma. I always knew you would end up doing something great." Manny said happily.

"Thanks. What about you, Manny? What are you doing?" Emma asked pleasantly.

"I'm being a stay at home mom." She couldn't keep the disappointment out of her voice. She wanted to be a mom, she really did, but she also wanted to live her dream of fashion design. They didn't fit together well. She tried not to be bitter. It was hard.

"Oh, Manny! That's wonderful!" Emma sounded so happy, and… relieved. Manny felt she had to clarify.

"They're Sam's, my husband, kids." She said softly.

"Oh, Manny." Emma now sounded somewhat sad. She obviously just wanted to change the subject with her next line. "So…why did you call?" She asked politely.

"Well…" Manny said lightly, trying to forget some of the bad memories that were resurfacing. "Do you remember that time capsule we put together in high school?" Manny asked, praying for a yes.

"Time capsule? Time capsule…" Emma repeated to herself as if trying to remember. "Oh my God!" She ejected. "I had completely forgotten about that!" She said with wonder. "How could I have forgotten that?" She asked herself, and she sounded disappointed, like she had remembered how important it was and was disappointed in herself because she had forgotten.

Manny sighed. "Don't feel bad. The only reason I remembered it, was that I received the e-mail." She took a deep breath. "By the way, thanks for that. The e-mail reminder was a great idea. I never would have remembered it otherwise."

Emma let out a short laugh. "I don't even remember suggesting it, but thanks. So, what's the next step?" She asked lightly.

"Well," Manny said. "I want to get a hold of everyone else." Emma made a noise of affirmation. "And then I figured we could all decide on a time to go err…" She searched for mature way to say it, "Dig it up." She failed to find one.

"That sounds like a good way to go about it." Emma said with a good-natured laugh. Manny smiled. She had missed talking to Emma. There was something comforting about her. She always had everything together, and you always felt like you could trust her to be…a good person. No matter what had happened between them, or what old wounds Manny still nursed, Emma was still there, softly being…herself. It was a relief.

Manny thought about where to take the conversation next, and realized that although she still felt as though Emma was her friend, she had nothing to really talk to her about.

"So…" Emma said softly after a few moments of complete silence. Manny's cheeks began to burn a bit. As the person who initiated the call, she felt it was her duty to keep it going.

"Well…" She floundered. _Wait! Ask her about Ellie! _"I've gotten everyone else's phone number, and I've called…almost everyone," She took a deep breathe, "except Craig." She let out her breathe in a rush, and she could feel Emma on the other end murmur sympathetically. "And Ellie."

"Ellie?" Emma asked with a thoughtful lilt to her voice. "Hmmm."

"Well," Manny supplied hopefully. "I just don't know what her mother's first name is." Emma was silent, probably thinking, but Manny continued to babble. "If I had it, I could, you know, look it up, and then, I could, um, call her." _What the hell is wrong with you! _She asked herself furiously. _You sound like a fourteen year old!_

She was starting to think that any thought at all about her high school days sent her right back into that inexperience, immature, gossipy eleventh grader mode. Did this happen to other people?

Emma laughed softly again, but this time there was a bit of a question, or maybe worry, at the way Manny was acting. "Well," She said a little uncertainly. "I'm pretty sure it was Eleanor as well." Manny's breathe caught. That was too easy. _I'm such an idiot._

"Oh." Many breathed out, her face beat red. All she wanted at the moment was to get off the phone. Get off the phone before she embarrassed herself further. "Well, then." She said quickly. "I guess that I should get on calling her then."

"Oh, sure." Emma said. There was some incredulousness to her voice, as if she couldn't understand at all the way Manny was being.

"Right." Manny said, again much too quickly. "So, I'll let you go for now. And, um, I'll call you when we've got some definite times!"

Emma raised an eyebrow, and though she couldn't see it, Manny felt it.

"So, uh, goodbye."

"Alright, it was nice talking to you-" Emma began

"You too." Manny jumped in.

"goodbye?" Emma's voice was completely uncertain, but as she heard the final syllable, Manny dropped the phone into its cradle with shaky hands.

She took a deep breathe and stared at the table.

_Well, that was only the worst it could possibly have gone..._


End file.
